Author's Notes: MUHAHAHAHA! Why? BECAUSE I CAN!

In Life and Death
Chapter 18: Hospital Rampage

The sound of flips flops on pavement echoed through the empty top floor of the parking garage. It was the least used floor. But it was the least used floor. She enjoyed flying under the radar. She checked her reflection in the glass door as she waited for the elevator that would take her to the lobby. The faded blue jeans were too tight. The shirt was too tight and cut way too low. She smiled as she adjusted the strap on her purse.

She stepped into the elevator and hit the lobby button. She pulled a MP3 Player out of her purse and slipped the earbuds into place. She didn't bother turning it on. It was cheap and it was flashy. And it was empty. Some people tended not to pay attention to her when they assumed she was not paying attention to them. She learned many things bobbing her head along to nothing. And just the sight of the small device drove others crazy.

She sighed as the elevator came to a stop. She ran a hand through her long, blonde hair, twirling a strand as she reached the end. The day had just started and already she knew it was going to be long. The parking garage was full of police cars and media crews. Something was going on at the hospital. Something bad, she feared. And whatever it was, she wasn't there when it started.

Did it have to do with the thefts? Had there been more? Did some insane ex-patient of the psyche ward go crazy and shoot up the place? Were bank robbers held up inside? Was someone dead? Were there hostages? Would she be allowed inside or were they sending everyone home?

Other than the vehicles that didn't belong there, the garage was pretty sparse. But she was earlier than most, including all who worked in her wing. She knew all their various vehicles and assigned parking spaces so she knew none of them were there.

The lobby's front desk was crowded with people she knew by pictures from the employee databases. She spotted the morning receptionist, a man she had flirted with many times. "Hey Rase." She pulled one of the earbuds out of her ears. "What's going on here?"

Rase was a few years older than Connie and had been working at the hospital longer. His hair was dyed black and cut short. He wore thin, black rectangular cut glasses that Connie figured more some kind of fashion statement than actual need. His green eyes focused on her over the glasses instead of through the lenses.

"Connie! The police are looking for you."

She tilted her head to the side. "Me? Why?"

"Yesterday." Rase leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Did you hear about what happened?"

Connie shook her head. "No. My department was sent to a convention yesterday. We got back very late last night."

The convention had been planned for a few weeks. The department head, Hael, had approached Connie about it, asking her to arrange for the whole department to go. It was to happen on Wonderland. Ever since the interplanetary travel opened up a couple years back, medical marvels were popping up all over the place. An old carpenter discovered how to turn wood into a real boy. A visit to the Pride Lands would morph you into an animal for the duration of the trip, as would Atlantica. In Deep Jungle, a man was found who could talk to animals. Genies, witches, wizards, dragons, and robots. Some really weird stuff.

So when the department head said the Mad Hatter Tea Company on Wonderland had a new brand of tea that would cure any ailment, Connie wasn't surprised, though she was curious. Why would their department, which dealt mostly with diagnostics of abdominal anomalies, be the only ones attending this conference in Wonderland? Why the entire department? And why did she have to go? She worked very hard to secure her place as the annoying, dimwitted, slutty receptionist with no work ethics or morals.

Though she found it unfair that Veera got out of it. In the months the good doctor had been working there, she never once mentioned having a sister. And all of a sudden her sister is pregnant and giving birth in another hospital, miles away? Connie wished she had siblings to blame things on.

But when the boss says go, you go. So she bought the tickets and made the arrangements. Despite not wanting to go to the conference, Connie was excited about going off planet. It was still very much the new thing and she had never done any serious traveling in her short life. And as soon as she sat down on the shuttle, she knew why. The ride was long, despite the warp gates. It was loud, bumpy, and the food was awful. And it only got worse when the shuttle landed.

While there was a Mad Hatter, the guy was crazy and didn't run a tea company. No one had heard of a tea company or the miracle tea on all of Wonderland. They spent all day trying to track down the various people both Connie and her boss talked to but they didn't exist. It was frustrating and no one would give them any answers.

They even had an audience with the Queen but when she threatened to have their heads if they didn't leave her alone, they left, again without answers.

"I just don't understand it." The department head, Hael, said as they waited for the shuttle. "I distinctly remember talking with Mr. Hatter's secretary. We have flyers back at the office. And passes for the conference. How can no one on this stupid planet know how the hell this happened? Who would fake a conference?"

She had been right. The whole situation was very strange. And Connie would find the answers they couldn't find on Wonderland. As soon as she got back to the office and her computer.

Which was why she was at Landic an hour before she was scheduled to be.

"Yes, I heard about the conference." Rase said with a nod. "How was it?"

Connie rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. "It was a fake! We got there and like no one knew what we were talking about. The company holding it didn't even exist and we got threatened by the fat Queen."

"Wow. So your whole department got suckered into a fake conference?"

"All except Dr. Verse." She wanted to keep that piece of information to herself but when the rest of the department was questioned, she didn't want to be caught in a lie.

"Oh my god! Was she here?"

"No." Connie shook her head. "She had a family thing. Big emergency. Why? What do you know Rase?"

He tilted his head slightly in a shrugging manner. "Not much. Just been hearing bits and pieces."

"Dish." She leaned closer.

"Okay. So early yesterday morning, like very, very early before normal people get up, there was an explosion."

Her eyes widened. "Explosion?"

Rase nodded. "In the blood cooler. Terrible mess. Took hours for the maintenance and night shift to clean it up and repair the damage. All the blood that was undamaged had to be disposed of. Then there was a big panic over getting more. So by the time anyone noticed, there was no clue how long it had been going on."

"What?"

"The take over."

"Take over?"

"Of your department."

"What?" Her mouth dropped open.

"It was completely sealed off. Stairwells were locked, elevators were shut off, and the security cameras were off."

"Really? The whole wing? And no one noticed?"

"Everyone who works in the wing wasn't scheduled to come in."

All were off planet and accounted for, except Veera, Connie thought. She shook her head slowly as Veera kept popping into her head.

"Between the cleanup and restocking and patient care, everyone on duty had their hands full. It wasn't until nearly noon that someone realized the maintenance elevator was out. From there they found the stairwells, the other elevators, the security camera, and finally the sealed doors. When they were finally able to break into the wing, it was empty. Not a single sign of anyone."

"Anything missing?"

Rase shook his head. "In fact, a lot of the missing equipment was found in the conference room."

"The conference room?"

He nodded again. "The tables and chairs were found stashed in the offices. It looked as though it had been converted into an operating room. The tools had been used but the entire room has been wiped clean, sterilized. No blood, no nothing. Not even a single fingerprint."

"So someone broke into the hospital, created a ruckus, disabled the security camera and elevators, and operated on someone?"

Rase nodded. "Messed up, isn't it? Breaking in a hospital to operate."

Connie nodded, scanning the lobby. "Any chance you think I can get upstairs to my desk?"

Rase shook his head. "It's a crime scene. All locked up. I assume they'll be taking all the computers and junk as evidence. Try and see if it was an inside job."

Connie bit her lip. She didn't exactly have any incriminating files on her hard drive, at least no to the naked eye. But if someone went digging, they could find out she did more than file papers and make appointments. "Rase… I have to get to my desk. You said they have it blocked off?"

He nodded. "There's a guard standing watch until a forensic team can get at it."

"I thought you said they didn't find anything?"

"I did."

"But if this was an inside job, clearly whoever did it would know how to remove all traces of blood or other fluid."

Rase gave her an odd look but nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe they want to check again."

Connie bit her lip. She needed to get to her computer. "What about the elevators? Are they operational yet?"

He nodded.

"And the security cameras?"

"Half of them, I think. The ones in your office are still out. And the garage. But I believe the other ones have been reconnected."

"They probably can't use the ones in the office and garage anymore. The wires were probably cut. They'll have to rewire the whole place to get the cameras back up."

Rase looked thoroughly confused at that point. "Uh… right. That makes sense." He said slowly, shaking his head.

"I watch too many crime investigation shows." She said with a smile and a flip of her hair. "Thanks for the info Rase. I'm going to go see if they'll let me in for a moment."

"I'll go with you."

She rolled her eyes when he turned his back to her. She talked to him long enough. If he wasn't already suspicious, he'd been soon enough. But to object would just rouse him more. "Lead the way." She wasn't worried about being seen so she followed him into the elevator and down the hall. When they reached the blue doors she knew so well, she let out a relieved sigh.

The guy that sat in front of the doors wasn't an officer. He was the newest addition to the maintenance staff. It was only his second week. He was fresh out of high school, a slacker, and only got the job because his parents both worked at the hospital. He looked bored and annoyed to be there as he slouched in his chair. He didn't look up.

"Hello!" Connie said sweetly, offering a smile. "I work in there and I left something important inside. Any chance you would let me in for a moment to get it?"

He looked up at her and shrugged. "Whatever." He said, getting up. "I have to pee."

Rase's mouth dropped open as he watched the guard walk off. "That was easier that I thought."

Connie smiled and nodded. "You stand watch Rase." She said quickly before he offered to come in with her. "I'll be right back." She slipped inside before he could object. Her curiosity pricked and she thought about checking out the conference room. But she pushed it away and headed for her desk. She knew she only had a few minutes. She couldn't clear the hard drive in the given time, but maybe she had enough to remove it completely.

She fished around in her desk drawer for the small screwdriver she kept for this very problem; hard drive removal. She had to remove it once to fix something and another to increase the memory. She popped off the face plate and started unscrewing the panel. It came away fast enough and more screws followed.

Once she had the hard drive safely stashed in her purse, she screwed the panel back on, trying to wipe all the fingers off as best as she could. "Now." She said softly to herself as she stood up. She walked around her desk and headed towards the offices.

Veera's was unlocked. Connie wished she was surprised when she flipped the lights on. Everything was gone. The bookshelf that had been piled high was empty. There were nails on the walls were her diploma and other various things used to hang. So there hadn't been a sister, had there? Veera had been behind everything, hadn't she? And now she was gone.

Connie crossed the small office to the computer on the desk. Veera was smart enough to cover her tracks when it came to cleaning up and keeping people out, but what about her computer? Did she leave behind some trace of something? It took Connie a few minutes longer to locate and remove the hard drive. But she had it stashed away with the other and was heading back out in no time.

"I was just coming in to get you." Rase said nervously, looking around as she came out.

"Stop worrying, Rase. We're doing nothing wrong. I simply had to get my planner." She said, holding up a black planner that she had indeed left behind. "My whole, like, life is in here. Appointments, dates, names, numbers." She waved it around. "Can't live without it."

"Can we just get out of here now?"

She wanted to comment that she didn't ask him to follow her around like a lost puppy but she bit back the comment and smiled. She followed him into the elevator and down to the lobby. She spotted her boss, Hael, as she stepped out.

Hael was speaking with a police officer and waved Connie over when she saw her. "This is the department secretary, Connie Bland. She was off planet as well yesterday."

"The fake conference?" The officer asked, glancing over at Connie.

Hael nodded.

"I'd like to talk to you later." He said to Connie.

She nodded. "Sure thing. This is all so weird. Like… totally. I'll just wait over here until ya'll need me." She said, moving to take a seat in one of the nearby chairs. She pulled the MP3 Player out of her pocket and pretended to play with the buttons.

"Not the brightest." Hael said in an apologetic tone.

The officer nodded. "I'll need all information you have on this conference. Shuttle flights too. And a list of everyone who attended."

Hael nodded. "Everything should be up in my office."

"We'll let you know as soon as you can go up."

Hael nodded and watched as the officer walked off to talk to someone else. With a large sigh, she took a seat next to Connie.

Connie faked turning the volume down and removed one of the earbuds. "Anyone know what's going on yet?"

Hael went over the details she knew.

"Yeah. That's what the dude down here said."

"Who?"

"Rase. The receptionist."

Hael nodded slowly and sighed again. "Connie… have you seen Veera around this morning?"

"Doctor Verse?" She shook her head. "No. Why doc?"

Hael dipped her head, thinking. "No real reason. She's just the only one I can't get a hold of. Her personal phone has been disconnected. And I can't recall her address."

"I should have it on file upstairs." Connie offer.

"When they let us up, you check and let me know right away."

"Sure thing doc." She replaced the earbud and started to bob her head to the imaginary music.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Connie wanted to run out to her car to stash the hard drives but she feared it might be suspicious if she disappeared, even if only for a few minutes. So instead, she had sat in the lobby, in plain view, with her purse on the floor beside her.

Hael darted around the place, talking to the police, other department heads, and her employees. Still no sign of Veera. And Connie suspected they never would find her again.

"Miss Bland, is it?"

Connie nodded as she took her MP3 Player off and dropped it in the front pocket of her purse. She was in one of the conference rooms of the hospital. It had been converted into an interrogation room, so to speak. She sat across the take from two officers. One she spoken with earlier for a moment. The other said nothing.

"I have a few questions to ask you."

She gently set her purse on the floor and leaned back in her chair. "Sure thing, Mr. Officer." She smiled. "Shoot."

"Tell us about the days leading to the attack?"

"Attack?"

"To what happened yesterday."

"Oh. Sure!" Nothing out of the ordinary happened but she went over it anyways. When he asked about the conference, she went over the details of making the arrangements and the annoyance of finding it fake. "It was like… totally weird. There was a crazy guy called Mad Hatter but no tea company. And we got threatened by the Queen. Real unprofessional, if you ask me. The whole planet is crazy."

"Everyone went?"

She shook her head. "One of the doctors had a last minute emergency and couldn't go." She knew the officers already knew this. They had spoken with a few of the others.

"Who was that?"

"Doctor Veronica Verse. Prefers to be called Veera for some reason. She throws a fit when people say Veronica. But her sister when into labor and she rushed out of the town to be with her."

"So you believe her to be out of town?"

Connie nodded. "As far as I know."

"Do you know anything about her personal life?"

She shrugged. "Not much. She was never very talkative. I did meet her roommate once. An old guy named Zing."

"Roommate? Any relation?"

Connie shrugged again. "If it's family, he's not blood. They look nothing alike."

"Romantic then?"

"I don't think so. She didn't seem to like him a lot. Lots of yelling when he called."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"I probably should." She said slowly, lowering her head in a mock-nervous fashion. "But I can't remember. Should be on my computer. I keep the records of the people who work in the department."

"Your hard drive has been removed."

Connie's mouth dropped open as she pretended like she didn't know. "The hard drive? To my computer? Awe! I had pictures and stuff on there!"

"Personal?"

"Oh!" She smiled again, nervously. "Well… yes. My home computer broke down a few months ago and I've been using my work one. Hael will kill me when she finds out." She pouted slightly and shook her head. "Why would someone steal my hard drive?"

"You said you have files on all the people who work there. And this Veera is included?"

Connie nodded.

"Veera's office has been emptied and her hard drive is missing as well."

When she was questioned about why she was seen going upstairs with a guy and coming back, she told the half truth. "I left my planner in my office. I thought it was okay to get it. The guard let me."

She ended up having to hand the planner back. "Nothing is allowed to be released until after the investigation."

Connie had pouted afterwards, but she answered the rest of the questions and she was dismissed. She spoke with Hael, who told her to go home.

"It'll probably be a few days until we can be up and running again. I've reassigned the other doctors to help in other departments and transferred their patients. So there's no need for you to stick around."

"Oh! Time off? Vacation!"

Hael smiled and shook her head slowly. "I guess. Though you can't leave town until the investigation is over."

Connie groaned. "In case they have more questions?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. So vacation at home."

"I'll call you when we have more information. Or if I need you to come in for some reason."

"Totally! I could play secretary for someone else! That would be fun!"

"Yeah." Hael said slowly.

Connie hopped she didn't over play it as she causally walked to her car. She set her purse down on the passenger seat and pulled out her phone. She pressed it to her ear as it rang.

"This is Riku. Leave a message after the beep."

"Riku! This is Connie! You'll never believe what's happened. Give me a call when you get a chance."

She went home after that, planning on cracking into Veera's hard drive. But she came to a road block. She didn't have the equipment needed. But she knew where she could get access to it. She would just have to wait a while.

She spent the next week going over everything in her head and spending as much time as she could at the hospital. She complained about being bored at home and offered to volunteer. Doing so made her aware of a few facts she didn't know.

Blake Trippin, who had regularly conversed with Veera, had been transferred to Deep Jungle. Nash Baxter, the nurse who worked in his department, had been fired for the thefts at the hospital. It took a while for Connie to connect the dots. Nash was the first to meet with Sora. Blake was the one who signed him off to Veera. Sora had a file then, paper work from Nash and Blake. Veera had seen it. Connie herself had given it to her.

To her knowledge, Sora had only met with those three people. And now one was missing and the other two were conveniently no longer associated with the hospital. Sora didn't even exist at the hospital. It all lead back to Sora. She needed to talk to him or Riku. She had called the latter several times, leaving him countless messages. But she hadn't heard from him yet.

Almost two weeks passed since the incident when Connie decided to pay the silent boys a visit. She walked into the apartment building and a thought occurred to her. Veera had lived here. Surely she was now long gone. But maybe she could find out when the doctor had moved. She found the manger's place and knocked on his door.

"Hello?"

"Yes. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me." She said with a smile.

"I can try."

"I'm looking for a friend of mine. An old friend. We went to the same grade school and lost touch when my family moved. I understand she lived in this building until recently. I was wondering if you could tell me when or if she left a change of address."

"I might be able to."

"She lived in apartment 14."

"Jeff and Tessa Gaster?"

Connie looked at him oddly a moment, wonder if she'd gotten the number wrong.

"Uh… tall, green eyes, red hair?"

That sounded like it could be Veera. "Oh yes! I had heard she got married but I wasn't sure of the name. When did they move?"

"They didn't."

"They didn't?" She repeated.

He shook his head. "They're paid up for a year, I believe. Would be a waste if they picked up and moved now."

"Oh… well that's great! I must have gotten it wrong. Thanks!" She excused herself and hurried towards the elevator. She'd have to check it out after she talked to Riku and Sora.

She rode the elevator up to the third floor and walked down the hall towards the door with the thirteen on it. She knocked.

"Hello?" The girl who answered looked nothing like the girl who she'd seen several times at the hospital. She looked tired and sick. Her eyes focused after a few moments. "Connie? You work at the hospital, right?"

Connie smiled and nodded her head. "Kairi, right?"

Kairi didn't return the smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Riku."

"Riku?"

Connie nodded. "Yes. Is he here? Can I talk to him?"

She seemed to consider for a moment before shrugging. "I'll see. Wait right here."

The door was closed, rather loudly, and Connie snorted. "A bit rude, huh?" She waited for what felt like forever before she heard muffled voices.

"I don't know what she wants."

"Just talk to her for a minute."

"I don't want to."

"Go!"

"I'll be glad when the weekend's over and you leave." The door was thrown up and a glare was sent Connie's way. "What?"

"Riku… you look awful! What's going on?"

"None of your damn business. What do you want?"

"To talk to you and Sora about…"

"You can't talk to Sora."

The door was slammed in her face a second time. "Well…" She shook her head slowly, thoroughly confused, as she left.

End of Chapter 18. Stay tuned for Chapter 19: Open Your Eyes

Author's Notes: MUHAHAHAHA! Though I hope Connie doesn't appear too… Mary Sue-ish. Was my plan from the beginning. A computer hacker parading around as an airhead. And the whole MP3 Player thing works. I wear mine all the time and usually it's turned off.